Procurement and supply chain consultancy Prokura joins Kearney

Procurement and supply chain consultancy Prokura has joined Kearney, in a deal that was brokered by Equiteq.

In a rare move for Kearney, the global management consulting firm has purchased Prokura, a specialised Danish consultancy led by partners with a background at McKinsey, Boston Consulting Group and Strategy&. Since its inception, Prokura has grown to a team of 60 consultants working from offices in Copenhagen, Oslo and Munich.

The acquisition is just Kearney’s third in a decade, following the previous bolt-ons of data analytics consultancy Cervello in the US (2019) and Quintel in the Netherlands (2011). The US-headquartered firm, which returned to a privately-held partnership in 2006, typically prefers organic growth to inorganic bolt-ons.

Commenting on why Kearney decided to add Prokura to its ranks, Kearney’s European boss Geir Olsen said: “This deal consolidates our position as the market-leading procurement and supply chain consultants.”

With around 650 procurement and supply chain experts worldwide, Kearney is – according to most of the noteworthy consulting rankings in the marketplace – a leader in the field. The consulting firm focuses on the strategic segment of the domain – strategic procurement and strategic operations.

For Prokura, the deal sees the firm become a separate brand and business entity under the Kearney banner, in a similar strategy to the one used by Boston Consulting Group for its procurement division Inverto.

Christian Bang-Pedersen, a partner at Prokura (ex-McKinsey), said. “With the backing and support of Kearney’s global network and strong capabilities, the way will be paved for further growth and expansion in Europe. This is a strong ambition and a journey we are looking forward to embarking on.”

During the deal process, from the early stages of strategising and concepting through to signing, Bang-Pedersen and the firm’s three other partners were advised by Equiteq. “We significantly benefitted from Equiteq’s knowledge of the procurement and supply chain consulting markets – giving them the ability to provide us with truly valuable advice on how to position our business and create the right engagement with a buyer community they had real inroads into.”

Previous deals Equiteq worked on in the broader supply chain space include advising Myrtle Consulting Group on its sale to Accenture, and advising Cervello on its deal with Kearney. Both deals were US focused. Meanwhile, Equiteq has helped French-origin Sia Partners close a number of deals over the past years, several of which in the operations consulting space.

Jerome Glynn-Smith, Managing Director at Equiteq said: “It is a real pleasure to see the talent and niche capabilities of Prokura concluding in such a great outcome for the business and partner group. I’m confident significant tailwinds from Kearney will create numerous business and professional opportunities for Prokura people, across Europe and beyond.”

The Prokura – Kearney acquisition closed on December 1, 2021. Financial details have not been disclosed.